2,000 jobs for students
Since it was set up a year ago, the online job platform “ETH get hired” has already recorded half a million visits. Plans are now underway to launch an app too.
A year ago, the ETH Career Center and the non-profit organisation Telejob officially launched the online job platform “ETH get hired” at the Polymesse recruitment fair. Telejob had previously operated its own job platform under the same name. Its experience with this – along with the job market experience gained by the ETH Career Center from its activities in connecting students and businesses – provided an ideal basis for the joint project, says Martin Ghisletti, Head of the ETH Career Center.
When the job site was first launched, it was still unclear how successful it would turn out to be. Now Ghisletti knows for sure: “The platform is attracting a lot of interest from students, and from companies and universities too.” In fact, “ETH get hired” has had around 500,000 visits since it went live. In addition, students were able to apply for more than 2,000 jobs via the site. The fact that it is attracting so much attention is also reflected in the 12 percent increase in advertisements.
The number of job adverts has risen significantly in this year alone, says Piotr Tokarczyk, President of Telejob: “The fact that so many companies, as well as universities, are using our platform shows that we are now firmly established.”
Promoting careers for academics
Some jobs on “ETH get hired” are aimed at Bachelor’s and Master’s degree students, while others target doctoral students or postdocs – especially from the “MINT” fields of mathematics, IT, natural sciences or technology. According to Ghisletti, students specialising in computer science are currently the most sought-after.
Many of the advertisements are posted by finance companies, consultancies and engineering firms. There is one condition they all have to fulfil: the job specifications must refer to a field of study which is offered at ETH. Job seekers will not find any temporary or sideline jobs on the platform. “Our aim is to focus on promoting careers for students and doctoral students at ETH,” says Tokarczyk.
This is done by publishing job adverts either for full-time, entry-level professional positions or for work experience and training schemes, which currently make up more than a third of the adverts from businesses.
Further development planned
While adverts are currently retrieved directly via the website, the intention is that this will not be the only option in future. “We are planning an app,” says Ghisletti. They have also considered linking the platform to social media platforms such as LinkedIn, but the details have not been settled yet.
However, it is already clear that plans are in place to make the payment process simpler for foreign companies – and with good reason: “Job adverts from foreign companies are on the rise.”
“I am very pleased with ‘ETH get hired’,” says the Head of the ETH Career Center. “The cooperation between the two organisations was a completely new experience for everyone concerned.” Telejob, part of the Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH), is a non-profit organisation run by doctoral students, while the ETH Career Center is staffed by experienced professionals.
“It was a case of two cultures meeting,” Ghisletti recalls, but everything soon fell into place: “We have been able to learn a lot from each other.”